Songbird
by Wind Chimers
Summary: Lily Evans' Patronus had always been a songbird, since the first time she'd cast it in her fourth year. Then one day, something went wrong. Now she casts her Patronus and all that appears is a doe to match James Potter's stag. [seventh-year fic, Jily]
1. Chapter 1

Worry constricted Lily's throat as she waved to her parents. The Hogwarts Express gathered speed and their smiling faces were left behind, as the station blurred together. Tuney hadn't wanted to come, declaring she had better things to do on her last day of summer break.

Lily had tried, really tried this time to get Tuney to see her off, because no one knew what would happen. She couldn't explain it to her Muggle family, not the brewing conflict, nor the fact that because they weren't magical now a portion of the wizarding world shunned her, treated her as having filthy blood.

No, they couldn't know. Lily feared that they'd somehow find out, and keep her home. She didn't think she could stand it if she had to go to, well, _normal _school, away from her friends and magic.

But a small part of her worried, that her protective enchantments she'd placed over their home weren't enough to keep them from harm. Never one to break rules, Lily was terrified the Ministry would find out she'd done underage magic.

Apparently they'd overlooked it, whether it was because they had bigger fish to fry at the moment or because the Ministry was now completely infiltrated and in ruins Lily didn't know.

Lugging her heavy trunk with her, Lily heard Barley, her barn owl, screech in protest. Apparently he wasn't too happy with the jerky movements. "Sorry," Lily told him, trying to pull her trunk more smoothly.

Looking into all the compartments she passed, and silently cursing her friends' liking of sitting in the back of the train, Lily slowly made her way down the train's hallway.

She was starting to think it was a bad idea to stuff her trunk full of books when the bane of her existence suddenly made his appearance in front of her.

"Evans," said James Potter with an easy smile.

Lily sighed, ready for him to offer to carry her bags, or offer to go out to Hogsmeade with her. She was prepared to argue her way out, when she realized she'd been pulling her trunks the Muggle way. A summer with her family could make her forget that she could do magic for every little thing now that she was back in the wizarding world. "_Locomotor," _she muttered, pointing her wand at her trunk. She guided it up into the air.

"Excuse me," she said, walking past James without a second glance, her trunk hovering high above both their heads.

She didn't have to walk much longer before she found the compartment where the other seventh-year Gryffindors were. She slid the door open to the compartment.

"Lily!" Marlene McKinnon hugged her before she could even react. Her wand hand jerked and the trunk hit the window, which sent Barley into a fit.

Marlene finally let go of Lily and she was gasping for air. "Save the emotional scenes 'till I get in!" she warned, trying a second time to enter the compartment. She waved her wand and straightened her trunk, sending it neatly into the luggage compartment.

"Bit magic-happy, aren't you?" Hestia Jones commented.

Lily shrugged. "A summer with Muggles can do that to you," Mary McDonald answered for her. Lily smiled at Mary, who was never one for big hugs or speeches.

Mary was reading from her Defense Against the Dark Arts book, her eyebrows knitted together in concentration. "I've never been able to cast a corporeal Patronus," she mumbled, looking at a page in her book.

"Lily can," Marlene said casually. Lily prayed against all hope that maybe they hadn't heard, but all eyes turned to her. Everyone's eyes had gone wide, and Marlene was smirking at her.

"Go on," Hestia urged. Lily closed her eyes, pictured her Hogwarts letter, the yellowed parchment with a violently purple seal, resting on her mother's favorite checkered blue tablecloth.

"_Expecto Patronum._" She opened her eyes and there was a little bird, twittering away as it flew in a lazy circle around the room. It sang once, a long, trilling note, and turned back towards Lily to perch on her finger. Lily smiled at it, looking into its silvery beady eyes. She'd never figured out what kind of bird it was, but it vaguely reminded her of summer picnics and spring blossoms, like she'd heard its song when she was little but couldn't remember now.

It turned, hopped off her finger and dissolved. Lily had let her happy thoughts dissolve into melancholy for a childhood lost. She looked around the train compartment. "It's beautiful," Mary said, her voice hushed.

"What d'you reckon my Patronus would be?" Hestia wondered aloud.

"I dunno, maybe a flobberworm," Marlene said teasingly. Hestia gave her a friendly punch in the arm, which turned into a real fistfight, and the regular chaos of the seventh year girls resumed. Lily sat away from the group, checking her Muggle watch anxiously.

Twenty minutes into the train ride, she was to arrive at the prefects' carriage. She bit her lip nervously, a habit she was trying to break, and felt in her pocket for her badge. Ever since Lily had gotten it in the mail she'd been terrified of losing it, which would make her seem unworthy of being Head Girl. Not that Lily often lost things, of course, but she thought she was entitled to a few irrational worries.

Five minutes before she was due in the prefects' carriage, Lily stood up. No one questioned her leaving as she slid the door open. Since fifth year, Lily Evans had been going religiously to every prefect event or meeting. Lily assumed they'd think she was just another prefect going to the meeting. She hadn't told them yet, and it was churning her stomach to think that as representative of Gryffindor for the whole school, she was not acting with the courage that defined her House.

The halls were mostly empty, and voices floated from either side of the halls, laughing echoing in the compartments. Lily sucked her breath in when she saw a too-familiar face, Severus, peering sourly into the hall. He followed her with his eyes until Lily was past her carriage, and when Lily glanced quickly back, his gaze hadn't moved. Lily felt her cheeks burn as she whipped her head back around, embarrassed that she'd let him see how much his attitude was affecting her. She'd been a little skittish since the night before, when she'd gotten a letter in Severus' handwriting, (she couldn't forget it no matter how hard she tried), with only one word scrawled on it: _careful_.

Her frazzled nerves had made this letter bother her more than it should have, her dreams last night had been mostly made of nightmares, visions of letters and warnings and dead friends. They'd left her tossing and turning all night, and Lily had woken up with a pounding headache, frizzy hair, and bags under her eyes, tangled in her sheets.

She opened the door to the prefect's carriage with more energy than was really necessary and surveyed the scene. Remus Lupin was sitting calmly, reading a book, and people were chattering, going about their business. Lily took another step into the compartment, a nervous hand clutching her Head Girl badge in her pocket.

"Hello," she said as evenly as she could manage.

A Hufflepuff prefect abruptly stopped the story she was animatedly telling her friend, and stopped to goggle at Lily. Many other prefects dropped their bags of candy, and some, namely the Slytherins, didn't bother, and only sneered at her, but the shocked silence that had started at the front of the compartment rippled across the prefects, who all were looking towards the entrance of the prefects' carriage.

Only Remus Lupin hadn't reacted, still leafing through his book after a quick upward glance. Lily swallowed. They couldn't know yet, could they? As far as they were aware, she was only another prefect coming to their usual meeting—there really was no need for them to stare.

Just as Lily thought her quaking knees were going to give way, another voice sounded from behind her. "Alright," he said, and Lily snapped her head around to join all the other people in the room in looking at James Potter like confused fish.

He was the last person anyone expected to see in the prefects' carriage, unless he was trying to pull off another one of his legendary Marauder's pranks, which was the same inevitable conclusion Lily arrived to, along with the others who had begun a small murmur of dissent.

"Potter, this is the prefects'—" Lily began heatedly.

He stopped her with a self-confident grin that somehow halted her protests in their tracks. "I know, love."

It took her a moment to focus on the small object that James was brandishing as an armor against Lily's anger, and when she did see the shiny bit of metal wedged between his thumb and pointer finger, a squeak escape Lily, despite all her composure.

James Potter strode past her and into the prefects' carriage. "I," he announced grandly, "am the Head Boy."


	2. Chapter 2

"You _what_?"

"James _what_?"

Lily smacked her head as Marlene and Hestia squabbled over what was more shocking gossip; the fact that Lily had been Head Girl and hadn't told them, or the fact that _James Potter_, famous troublemaker, had been chosen as the other Head.

"You know, you'll have to _live _with him," Marlene taunted, tossing her long blond hair.

Lily looked at her with a mixture of panic and alarm. "What?"

"Yeah, the Heads have their own dormitory," Hestia added, nodding.

"Oh, no," Lily groaned, while Hestia and Marlene giggled; they'd been trying to convince Lily to return James' obvious attentions.

"You will visit, won't you?" Mary asked anxiously.

"'Course," Lily said. "I still need to go to the common room."

"Oh, you're practically Mrs. Potter already!"

In another carriage heading up to the castle, another group of seventh years were also reeling from the news of the Heads. "First Moony, now you," Sirius complained. "We've got two Marauders on the enemy side!"

"We could use them as double agents," Peter proposed hopefully.

"Shut up, Wormy. We're not waging a war here, it's just school," James muttered, his eyes closed and in an apparent state of annoyance.

"No, but he does have a point. Heads and prefects can be out of bed late—that'll come in handy, I suppose," Sirius reasoned.

They all turned to James, waiting for him to contribute a funny remark, or act mock offended at the fact that Sirius only cared about his advantages for troublemaking. In earlier years James would have jumped at the occasion to make some sort of joke, but he only sat broodingly looking out the window.

Remus shook his head, wordlessly telling the others to leave James alone. He was obviously in one of his moods, which had been occurring with increasing frequency since the end of sixth year.

But when everyone had expected him to stay silent for the rest of the carriage ride, James spoke when they least expected it.

"Lily's going to hate me," he said.

"Why would she hate you?" Remus, the most sensitive Marauder, asked.

"When I told them I was Head Boy, she looked at me… she looked at me like it was my fault, like it was a personal insult."

"You know it's not you who asked to be Head Boy," Remus placated.

"If she's that huffy then maybe she's not worth the trouble…" Sirius muttered.

James turned an angry glare towards Sirius and James' best friend held his gaze. Peter looked between them with quickly, his eyes flickering with fear. It wouldn't be pretty if James and Sirius had a row in the carriage.

"I think Lily's very nice," Peter put in quietly.

This broke their intense staring match. "Shut up," they said in unison, then laughed together, the bubble of tension broken at last.

Peter frowned in his end of the carriage. They always dismissed his word like that, with some variant of "shut up," when it was he who had just averted the crisis. Peter looked to Remus for some support (the quiet Marauder was always kindest to Peter), but he was already engrossed in a book that Peter recognized from the train ride.

When the carriages halted in front of Hogwarts, James was already betting his Head Boy's badge in a game of Exploding Snap, Remus had reached chapter twenty-seven, and Peter still hadn't said a word.

! #$%^&*

"First years over here," Lily chimed, herding a mass of tiny-looking new Gryffindors. "The step there vanishes, careful," she added, steering a girl out of the way at the last second.

"Yes, what she said," James added miserably. "Careful, there—" he said to a boy who was poking a suit of armor, but he didn't seem to hear. The helmet slammed shut onto the boy's finger, and James sighed as he howled in pain.

He followed Lily and her overbearing instructions to the corridor in front of the common room. "The password is 'Mandragora,'" she told the first years. "It will change every once in a while, and mind don't forget it, otherwise you won't be able to get in. If you do forget, a prefect should be able to help, or you can come find me."

She left the first years to go to the other stairway that lead to the Gryffindor Heads' common room. The new Gryffindors were left staring at James, who himself was at a loss for what to do. "Yeah, I was going to say all that," he told them lamely. "Mandragora."

The portrait of the Fat Lady swung open and the first years all filed in. James turned to the stairwell into which Lily had disappeared into; wondering what kind of system was in place there to get in.

He knew how to get into the Hufflepuff common room; he'd overhead two lost first years discussing it a few years back. He'd never bothered to go there, James would much rather sneak into the kitchens with the help of his invisibility cloak. He knew that Ravenclaw Tower had some kind of puzzle they needed to solve to get in; and of course Gryffindor had the simple password.

James stepped into the alcove that he'd often seen in the past years but had never given much thought to. It was richly decorated in red hangings with delicate golden embroidery, and at the back of the alcove stood a plain, arched wooden door. It was made of strong, polished oak, and James felt it wonderingly as he tried to guess how to open it.

He knocked on the door experimentally; and as he'd expected it was solid. He trailed a finger all around the edges, trying to find a hidden groove or something. James thought he felt a section of the door that felt warmer to the touch, and as he kneeled down to inspect it, the door suddenly fell open in front of him. James thought for a second he'd found the key to opening the door; when he looked up to see Lily holding the door open.

"Oh," he said dumbly.

"Thought you'd be out here. Heard you knocking," she said shortly, a disapproving expression on her face.

"You didn't read to the end of the Head Boy letter, did you?" Lily asked. James shook his head sheepishly. "The password's 'Ginger Root,' but we can change it."

"Thanks," James said honestly. Lily's eyes narrowed suspiciously. In the whole of her conversation with James, he hadn't so far asked her out nor told her how great he was. Lily searched through the possible explanations and settled on some sort of trick on James' part.

Lily opened the door a bit wider and James stepped in. He looked round their common room while Lily shut the door. It was decorated in red and gold like the other common room, but this time in faded colors, with drapings and hangings covering most of the room. A fire crackled in an ancient stone fireplace, decorated with carved lions of wide snarls and roars and almost monkeyish expressions. The whole place gave off the impression of something very old and powerful, like the room had remained untouched since Godric Gryffindor himself.

Two thin, spindly staircases wound in opposite directions, twisting away from each other into what seemed like a second floor. Amazed at this whole section of the castle he'd never discovered, James stepped up the stairs that, if they mirrored the Gryffindor common room, led to the boys' dormitory.

On the top of the stairs was a door that said in faded, gold lettering: "Head Boy." James pushed the door open and saw that this room was decorated, in contrast to the abundance of red and gold downstairs, in a deep midnight blue, with shimmering drapes around the window and bed.

James smiled when he saw his trunk already there, waiting patiently for him in his new room. He opened it and flung out robes, shirts, spellbooks, and other assorted bits of rubbish until his fingers closed around what he was searching for. James pulled out the little rectangular mirror and sat down on his bed.


	3. Chapter 3

Lily's first impression of her dormitory was that it was very, very green. It almost hurt her eyes—the varying shades of evergreen, mint green, spring green, and deep forest green in the trimmings of her wall.

Lily had read in _Hogwarts, A History_ that the Heads' dormitories magically recreated a room to fit the personalities, or souls, of its inhabitants. Lily wondered whether her soul was green.

If she closed her eyes a little and let everything blur, it was nice, she decided. She could imagine she was in a field of grass, or in the hills near her house. She breathed in and could almost smell the trees. She opened an eye and saw again her dormitory. She was being silly, she told herself. Lily imagined the first years that were supposed to look up to her, seeing her in her room giggling like an idiot, imagining fields of grass.

She sat down on her bed, which was fitted with a spring green silk bedspread with embroidered trees, their little branches crisscrossing on the bed. Lily wondered what James' room looked like, then quickly shook off the thought. Why would she care what that arrogant prat's soul looked like? It was probably all gold and Quidditch in there.

Speaking of James, Lily could hear him talking from the other side of the floor. Lily frowned. Was he talking to himself? No, most likely was that he was talking to somebody else.

Lily stepped towards her door. Who had he brought? Marauders? A girl? He most definitely wasn't allowed to do that, Lily reasoned. It was her responsibility as Head Girl to see what was going on.

Lily loped easily down the stairs then back up James', stalking closer to the door he'd left nonchalantly open. Now she could catch bits of his conversation, though she wasn't close enough to see into the room.

"…can't tell you the password," James' voice said.

"Why not Prongs?"

"No, no I'm not."

At the mention of passwords Lily stepped closer to the door, with a surge of newfound bravery. She saw James on his bed, absentmindedly ruffling his hair and…looking at himself in a mirror?

"You're no fun," said a voice that was most definitely not coming from James' mouth. Lily thought she recognized the voice…was it Sirius Black? No, but it couldn't be. She scanned the room—it most definitely wasn't coming from the furniture, nor James, so that only left the mirror.

Lily felt a small smile spread on her face as she figured it out—it was an enchanted mirror that allowed James and Sirius to communicate. She backed away from the door quickly before James could see her.

As she walked back up to her own room, she felt a sort of loneliness come over her. She missed her friends already—she didn't have a mirror, or any sort of magical object to keep contact with them. She knew she'd have classes with them the next day, but she missed the first night back, where they'd all talk about their summers until they passed out from exhaustion.

Lily sat in her green room and watched the light drain out of the sky as night fell. "Expecto Patronum," she said softly, picturing the texture of the tablecloth again, and the burnt-caramel color of the parchment envelope.

When she opened her eyes, her vaporlike, silvery bird was perched on her finger, and she could feel its warmth spreading through her. It opened its minute beak and sang one shrill note for her, and Lily smiled at it.

It seemed to encourage her to take action, and ten minutes later a shriek could be heard in the seventh year girls' dormitory.

"Lily!" Marlene McKinnon exclaimed.

Sheepishly, Lily waved at her old friends. "Didn't want to be alone first night back," she said.

Lily found her old bed, in its usual spot next to the window, and surveyed the common room from her familiar spot. Hestia Jones tossed her a bag of assorted Honeydukes candies, and Lily felt some of her worries evaporate as she settled into her bed, her real, proper Hogwarts bed.

! #$%^&*

His watch, a family heirloom, woke him up at a relatively early time for his first day of school. "Come on, James," it wheezed in a voice that might have belonged to a great-uncle.

"Too early," he mumbled, but the enchanted watch wouldn't listen to him.

"It's the first day of class, time to uphold the Potter family honor like your—"

A tap of James' wand silenced the watch. He really hated the old thing, but it was enchanted to think for itself, which did come in useful when it shouted at him to get up for a Quidditch match he'd forgotten.

He dressed quickly, threading his Gryffindor tie through the familiar movements until it was loosely hanging from his neck. He stepped into his new common room, still not used to having his living quarters so…so deserted.

Last year there was always the stray Gryffindor ahnging around the common room, sitting near the fire doing last-minute homework or talking to a friend; James could count on the Marauders talking, scheming, or sleeping in a corner when he returned from Quidditch practice.

Even when his friends weren't there, the Gryffindor common room was anything but empty and desolate. James looked at the luxurious deep red velvet curtains that sat in thick folds covered in dust; no wind had stirred them from those seemingly permanently shut windows.

James sighed and pushed the wooden door open to go down to the Great Hall for breakfast.

! #$%^&*

Lily was rifling through a book, checking a list of the prefects, and writing something on a piece of parchment all while managing to shove copious amounts of breakfast food into her mouth.

"Head Girl overwhelmed by her duties?" Marlene asked.

Lily glared, but knew Marlene was joking by one look at her face. Lily chewed furiously, scratching something out in her parchment and circling another line of text.

"I'm managing," she said, even though every aspect of her behavior indicated that she was not. Lily tugged at a strand of her hair that she twirled pensively around a finger, putting down her fork for a moment.

"If the two Hufflepuffs go there… no, I'll have to put the Ravenclaws in their own tower, can't have them patrolling their friends…"

"Ask James for help," Hestia suggested, and Lily looked at her, eyes bulging like she'd suggested something totally insane. Mary shot a dubious look towards the four Marauders, whose voices didn't carry to their end of the table but were visibly laughing, clutching the table for support.

"So… I can put Frank there, yes, I trust Frank…" Lily muttered, adding to her parchment _Frank Longbottom, 6:00-7:30, dungeons._

Hestia was about to ask Lily another thing about her planning, but Marlene shook her head seriously; it was best if Lily wasn't disturbed. She had a look of utmost concentration, and it was at these times of stress that shouting matches most often arose.

She wrote in _James Potter, 7:30-9:30, Astronomy Tower _with unnecessary vitriol, ripping the parchment slightly with her quill and leaving blots of ink in James' name. Lily's friends exchanged anxious glances and left her to her violent planning.

Further down the table, the Marauders were still chortling slightly after a Sirius' wonderful account of how, over the summer, he and James had found Regulus and followed him under the invisibility cloak.

"So, the first night at the Heads' dormitory…" Sirius said, edging the conversation away from his frankly rather brilliant ploys to rob his younger brother of his sanity, towards the much more interesting topic no other Marauder had been brave enough to ask James about.

"Good," James muttered, suddenly closed off and not at all laughing.

"Good?" Remus raised an eyebrow.

"It's just a new room," James shrugged, poking at an egg and stabbing its yolk, making the yellow flood out of it like thick, oddly colored blood.

"With Lily on the other side," Sirius persisted.

"Did you kiss her?" Peter asked in an excited squeal.

"_No,_" James said shortly. He looked as though he was going to add something then thought better of it and picked at his food moodily.

_Drama queen_, Sirius mouthed at Remus when James wasn't looking, and Sirius saw Moony's eyes crinkle slightly. He supposed the rest of his face was smiling as well, but it was hidden behind another thick and boring-looking book.

Sirius was about to poke some more fun at his best friend, but he found McGonagall giving out their schedules. Though she was one of the younger teachers at Hogwarts, her strict and stern demeanor made her look much older, and she was still one of the scariest people the Marauders had come across.

She let out a disapproving "hmpf" noise as she gave the four boys their schedules. Sirius thought about asking her whether she was glad they were finally leaving this year (rude or clever remarks always seemed to pop into his head), but she had already moved down the Gryffindor table, towards the younger students, and past them Lily and her friends.

Sirius looked at Lily. Sure, she wasn't bad-looking, but he couldn't understand what about her made James' brain turn to mush and get progressively moodier the longer he thought about her.

She looked a bit unhinged at the moment, Sirius thought to himself, her hair tied up haphazardly and scribbling furiously on a piece of parchment she was tearing unconsciously.

But then again, James had always been a bit off, and living with him now Sirius confirmed his theory; his mate Padfoot was off his rocker. But then, a mate's a mate, Sirius reasoned. He'd have to put up with his insanity.

It was almost time for classes, judging by the wave of students deserting their breakfast tables. James stood up, seeing that he had Herbology first, and headed out of the Great Hall in no hurry, letting his feet guide him where he had to go out of habit.

His descent to the greenhouses was halted when something was shoved in front of his face. James blinked, and realized it was parchment. He grabbed it and as his vision cleared, Lily appeared in front of him.

"Schedules for the prefects' patrols," she said shortly.

"Oh. Right," James said, not sure why his brain suddenly seemed to move more slowly and struggle to find words that together made up coherent English. He looked down at the list of names, hours, and locations. "Is there anything I can-?"

"No."

"Right," James said again. Lily gave him a strange look and started to catch up to the other Gryffindors which were nearly at the greenhouses. James found his name among the others, and his seven thirty to nine thirty rotation. James' stomach sank when he realized Quidditch practice this year was from six o'clock to eight, something he himself, Quidditch Captain had decided.

James ran down to where Lily was. "Lily!"

She turned and he thought quickly how to tell her without making her angry. "I—I can't at seven thirty, Quidditch practice is until eight…"

Lily frowned slightly, looking upset that her planning had been disrupted. "Well…I suppose I can switch the Ravenclaws… and you can do the late night rotation, with me."

"Cheers," he said, allowing himself a grin. Lily quirked an eyebrow like she wasn't sure how to respond, then ducked into the greenhouse. James followed the streak of red hair into the glass building as well; he was already late for the lesson.


	4. Chapter 4

Despite the teachers and their continuing efforts to make everything seem normal and have school carry on normally, all was not well.

Not only at Howgarts, but unrest was stirring everywhere else, and it seemed inevitable that it might seep into the walls of the castle. The Slytherins now huddled together and whispered, speaking of Death Eaters and jeering at any muggle borns.

The halls seemed full of furtive, anxious people, wanting to get quickly to their classes or rushing to the safety of their common rooms. Even the younger students seemed a bit put out by the nervous energy that dampened the spirits of all.

Lily was rushing towards Potions, feeling like a weight on her the stares of Slytherins and those who were known Voldemort supporters, even at school age. She drew strength from withdrawing into her mind like she did when Petunia taunted her. Lily allowed herself a little smile at how ironic it was; at home Tuney hated her for being a witch, and at school they persecuted her because she was, to them, too Muggle.

She ran down the stone stairs to the dungeons. On top of everything, Lily absolutely couldn't be late; whenever she arrived in class a few minutes late, Slughorn would always loudly ask her what was wrong, as if he couldn't possibly imagine that his model student would have been any less than punctual unless there were a serious emergency.

_I'm not a saint,_ she thought angrily as she pushed open the door and found the class preparing their cauldrons, thankfully not yet started. Lily picked a spot as far away from Sev—Snape, she corrected mentally, and sat down resolutely.

Slughorn was nowhere to be seen, and Lily sat anxiously, rearranging her cauldron on her table so that it would be perfectly centered, the lined up her knives perfectly parallel to one another, in order of decreasing size. She fiddled with her tie now, nothing left to do.

She had to admit; being late on the first day of classes, however inconvenient for others, was a very typical thing of Slughorn. He was not one of strict rules; in fact rules only seemed to apply to those who he didn't like, and the members of the Slug Club, as the students mockingly called it, were exempt from the usual limitations or regulations.

"Oi, Muggle," a voice drifted from the back of the dungeon.

Lily didn't turn nor make any outward sign that she'd heard other that suddenly freezing, and sitting ramrod straight in her chair, no longer fiddling with her tie.

"Seems Muggles are deaf too. Completely useless," the voice continued.

Lily was not angry yet; they'd have to try much harder to break her self-imposed calm, but she was tense, readying herself for some sort of confrontation.

"Oi, Muggle. Were your parents the filth that they made fly around London?"

She'd read that in the _Daily Prophet,_ of course; the Muggles that had been kidnapped then sent flying, completely awake, across the whole of London. It had been a serious breach of the Statue of Secrecy, and had kept the Ministry in a panic trying to erase the memories of London Muggles for about two weeks.

Lily gripped the edge of the table. She was fine. They couldn't hurt her with words. Soon Slughorn would be here, and they'd have lesson, and all this would be over; a funny thing to remember in weeks to come.

"Suppose I take Petunia and send her on a flying adventure next."

Lily whirled around and was standing, wand drawn, before even she could realize what had happened. "Who told you about Tuney?" she growled.

"Oh, right. Your Muggle sister—never mentioned her, did you? Suppose I wouldn't either, you know, the shame of that filth as a sister…" said Rookwood, who had been the one talking to Lily.

But Lily wasn't looking at Rookwood at all; instead she was glaring at Severus Snape, whose eyes were carefully blank. He had dared tell his new Slytherin friends all about her dysfunctional relationship with Petunia?

Lily wavered from Rookwood to Snape then back again, deciding whose nose to curse off first. "You… you…" she sputtered, trembling with anger.

"Hello, m'dears, bit late, sorry about—oh," Slughorn suddenly went quiet, a hand still on the heavy wooden door he'd just opened.

Lily wavered, still frozen in an attack position by her anger, but slowly lowering her wand. Taking deep, shaky breaths she sat down in front of her cauldron. Slughorn, having no idea how to handle the situation, simply closed his mouth, which had been left open in surprise, and continued with his lesson.

Lily was fuming, later, adding porcupine quills into her potion. She didn't know what made her angrier; the fact that Sev had given away her secrets like they weren't worth anything, or that she had completely lost control at the mention of her sister. They'd hit a nerve at the mention of Tuney, and Lily was sure they would use this knowledge to unhinge her further.

Lily's potion turned cloudy gray, and Lily briefly thought that it was likely reflecting her mood for the rest of the day, like a grim prediction.

! #$%^&*

It was a scowling Lily that James met, that evening, still sweaty and tired from Quidditch practice, for their rounds. She gave him instructions curtly, and ran a hand through hair that he was sure had been smooth and straight in the morning, but was now looking puffier and messier as she continually raked her fingers through it.

James supposed that was a bit rich of him to think, as he walked down towards the Great Hall, as his own hair was a royal mess every minute of the day, with a little help from him and his ruffling it. His footsteps echoed gloomily in the Great Hall. He sighed. There was obviously no one there, why were they even required to do this?

He went down towards the dungeons, where he would patrol around the Hufflepuff quarters then meet Lily in Gryffindor Tower to report his findings. Then they'd repeat this stupid routine for another hour and a half.

He walked past the painting of the bowl of fruit. "This is stupid. There's no one," he muttered to himself. "Why am I talking to myself?" he mused aloud.

In response he heard a muted laugh that most definitely hadn't come from him. James paused. He looked around and saw no one. "Hello?"

No giggle responded. James concluded that it must have been his imagination, and began once again fantasizing about going to bed.

He walked briskly forward, before hitting into what seemed to be an invisible wall. James felt the wind being knocked out of him and he grappled blindly at the mass he'd apparently run into.

He felt a supple material in his hands and as he tugged, Sirius' face appeared out of thin air. He wasn't controlling his laughing anymore, and was throwing his head back in pure mirth.

James, not amused, pulled the rest of the invisibility cloak off. "This is mine," he half-whined, hearing Sirius coughing for air while he laughed.

Sirius hiccupped. "Why am I talking to myself?" he said in a poor, high-pitched imitation of James.

"What are you doing here?"

Sirius pulled out a mound of chocolate bars he'd wrapped in a linen napkin. He'd obvious just gotten them from the kitchens. "For Moony?" James asked, knowing full well about his friend's strange chocolate infatuation.

"Lost a bet," Sirius shrugged.

"Remus doesn't bet."

"Oh yes, he does," Sirius answered, an annoyingly knowing smile on his face.

James sighed. "Disappear before I have to report you," he said in a resigned voice. Sirius nodded and saluted, disappearing again under the cloak. Ten minutes later he was back up at the Gryffindor Tower meeting point.

"Nothing to report," Lily said very officially.

"Nothing to report," James repeated, lying with utmost ease. He hesitated. "What if we… go to bed? I think there's nothing left to patrol now."

Lily paused. She'd be ending an hour early—this would be disobeying direct orders, and on the first day of class no less, but the idea of sleeping was ridiculously tempting.

"Yes, I suppose it won't make a difference," she said, more for her own benefit than James'.

James nodded with relief and spoke to the door. "Ginger Root."

Severus breathed again when James stepped into the door. The moment they'd been waiting for was there at last.


End file.
